AG candidate Donnelly outlines platform in Jeff City appearance

Donnelly, currently a state representative from St. Louis County, said as the state’s top law-enforcement official she would push for tougher product safety laws and create a new alert system to inform consumers of dangerous or recalled products.

The alerts would be available through text messages, e-mail and online RSS feeds, she said.

“I want to be sure that consumers are aware of problems or fraud or recalled products in a way that fits their needs,” Donnelly said.

She also pledged to create a scam and fraud hotline for seniors to report problems or learn about the latest schemes targeting the elderly. The office’s current web-based scam-reporting program may not be accessible for all seniors, she said.

She said she would direct the office to investigate how lenders market “reverse mortgages,” which allow borrowers to receive monthly payments based on their home equity. The mortgages are good for seniors and others in some circumstances, Donnelly said, but there may be cases in which lenders are pressuring borrowers to purchase the loans or bundling them with unneeded products.

“No one saw the subprime problem coming,” Donnelly said, referring to the mortgage meltdown that disrupted world financial markets beginning last year. “I think that the reverse mortgage industry as it is today is unregulated and needs to be investigated so we don’t have any future problem on our hands.”

Donnelly also outlined several policy goals related to sexual predators and producers of methamphetamines.

As attorney general, Donnelly said she would create a “Fugitive Unit” within the office to assist law enforcement agencies in tracking down sex offenders who are not complying with reporting laws.

“This unit will work with local law enforcement to ensure that we’re using every available resource in a coordinated statewide effort to track predators who have not registered or who have been violating their parole,” she said.

Donnelly said she believed all the new programs she would create within the attorney general’s office could be funded and staffed with existing resources.

She would also lobby the legislature to close loopholes in the criminal background check requirements for bus drivers and other school employees and seek to make sales records of methamphetamine precursors more accessible to police across the state.

“In my administration I will stand for the same values I’ve stood for throughout my public service, Donnelly said. “That is to give a voice to those who often have none and to keep all Missourians safe.”

Donnelly is running in a four-way primary against state Sen. Chris Koster, of Raymore, state Rep. Jeff Harris, of Columbia, and Molly Williams, a Kansas City lawyer and school teacher. The winner of the Aug. 5 primary will face Republican state Sen. Mike Gibbons, of St. Louis County, in November.